School problems and teachers’ collaboration: before a collaborative problem solving program

Abstract

This study precedes a collaborative problem solving intervention program with teachers (teachers, educators and school direction board) to tackle together real and complex problems at school and to promote professional development. Therefore, the main objective is to acknowledge teachers’ problems, needs and collaborative context at school. In the present study we sought to identify teachers’ problems and needs and the main factors associated with the development of teachers’ collaborative work. Specifically, we intent to understand which dimensions act as constraints to the development of collaborative work. Ultimately, we intend to contribute with scientific evidence in this field to allow the development of an effective teachers’ collaborative problem solving program at schools. Therefore, an empirical study was carried out involving 153 teachers, working in preschool, elementary, middle and secondary schools in a city of Aveiro’s region, in Portugal. To this assessment, the following instrument was used: a questionnaire developed by researchers aimed to collect information about teacher’s collaborative practices, problems and needs. Our study points out to four main findings: i) the main problems at school identified by teachers are teachers’ work overload, physical and/or mental exhaustion, the high number of students per class, teachers' lack of motivation, students’ lack of motivation and violence among students; ii) teachers' main needs are the reduction of the number of students per class, well-being and social intercourse activities, and peer support; iii) the efficacy of school direction board and teachers on school problem solving has positive significant correlation with teacher collaborative work; iv) the cumulative total of school problems identified by teachers has significant negative correlations with teachers' participation on collaborative work. The present study responds to the research gap in the analysis of the relation between school context problems identified by teachers and collaboration practices. Before beginning a collaborative problem solving program is essential that the researchers acknowledge teachers context and start with scientific data in order to set the best conditions to an efficient intervention.